HFS Explorer, It works with XP, haven't tried it with Vista. Worth a shot, it's freeware. http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/hfsx.html Edit: Just reread your post, this may not work for you. Sorry dude.
Acer has drivers for download, I put XP on my Extensa 5620. Same problem here with the XP webcam drivers. Laptop wouldn't shut down. I just turn off the webcam in Hardware manager, and turn it on when I need it. Use nLite to burn a CD with the SATA driver included. http://forum.notebookreview.com/index.php The above is a very good forum for laptops.
I'd try out Puppy Linux. It's pretty easy to setup a dualboot with a "frugal install." A frugal install put's about 5 files on your harddrive. No need to partition. If you don't like it you can just remove the files. www.puppylinux.org/ Lin-Win Dualboot Guide
I use a freeware app called Drive Image XML It'll back up your system drive, or any drive for that matter. When you want to reinstall, you boot from a CD and reinstall your disk image. Full instructions at the link.
I have a ton of codecs installed. This is a sample video that was included with Vista. I would think it would play anyway. I think I'm just going to have to wait until WMP gets updated.
Vista Home Premium. Windows Media Player 11 won't play video, screen is black. It'll play audio alright. Enhancement window is black as well. I tried downloading WMP 11 and reinstalling, but the version on my laptop is later then the download. Video plays OK in Media Player Classic. These are the sample videos that come with Vista. I don't want to reinstall the OS because I have a triple boot set up. I didn't image the disk until after the video problem so I'm kind of stuck. Any ideas?
Update: I don't know if it was the driver version I used or what, but I was transcoding some video today and got a BSOD. Driver IRQ less then equal, I think it was. I switched back to IDE mode and all is good.